Japan on Monday warned China against carrying out aggressive activities in the disputed East China Sea.

A senior most Japanese official has made it clear that Tokyo is determined to defend its territory in the event of an aggression from China. 

"The government of Japan continues to watch the Chinese military's activity, which has become expansive and more active while carrying out our surveillance activity," Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters. "We are determined to defend our land, territorial waters and the skies."

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On Sunday, more than half a dozen Chinese military aircraft, including two fighter jets, flew over a group of islands, including the disputed Senkaku island, in the East China Sea. Tokyo reportedly retaliated to the move by deploying its own military aircraft in the region.

The two Asian powers have been engaged in a bitter territorial dispute over Japan-controlled Senkaku Island.

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force has defended its actions saying that the flyby was necessary to safeguard national sovereignty and China's security. PLA Air Force spokesperson Shen Jinke said that Chinese fighter planes are regularly patrolling the country's Air Defense Identification Zone over the East China Sea. He added that the Sunday's flyby was part of the Chinese Air Force's regular combat drills in the West Pacific.

"The drills included surveillance, assault, and air refueling to test the air force's capabilities," Shen said, adding that aircraft like H-6K bombers, Su-30 fighters, and tankers will regularly be flying over the Miyako Strait, an international waterway between Japan's Miyako Island and Okinawa Island.

TagsEast China Sea, East China Sea dispute, Japan, china, Senkaku Islands